Synergy

Synergy is one of the most common, overly used buzzwords in the Corporate Language. You might already have heard it three or four times today in this morning’s staff meeting.

Let’s say that I have a 4th level human druid. I’ve got 2 points in my Weather Sense skill and 4 points in Survival. After a night of gaming I level up to 5 (hurray for me!) and apply another skill point in Survival. Having a 5 points in Survival gives me an automatic +2 synergy bonus to Weather Sense. This means I can use Weather Sense at +4, because Weather Sense and Survival work cooperatively.

So when Management says, “This will be a great opportunity to apply synergy within the solution”, what they are really wanting is for you to have at least 5 skill points in a related skill. You might point out to your supervisor at the staff meeting that using synergy bonuses with your skills is usually at DM’s discretion.